


Hatch-choo!

by VexedVixen



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Common Cold, Nothing too extreme, Sick Character, rated M solely for the fact the game itself is rated M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 11:07:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18387206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VexedVixen/pseuds/VexedVixen
Summary: Claudette finds herself sick with a cold during a trial with the Nurse. How will she manage to escape?





	Hatch-choo!

“She’s sick.”

“Sick? That’s not possible. We’ve never got sick here before!”

“Well, apparently it is. Claudette’s got a fever, a cough, and the chills. Nothin’ more than a cold, though, I think.”

Claudette lay in a bedroll near the campfire, coughing and wheezing, as if to prove Kate’s point. Dwight and Kate glanced between each other, before turning back to all the others, who hovered on the other side of the fire.

“She can’t be sick!” Meg spoke up first. “We’ve been here longer than anyone and this has never happened!”

“What if it means something?” Quentin asked, frowning.

“I don’t think it means anything other than Claudette is sick,” Adam said as he stepped over to Claudette. “And she just needs some rest and some time to recover.” He took off his trench coat and bunched it up before scooting it under Claudette’s head.

Claudette opened her eyes as she moved her head to rest on the makeshift pillow. “I’m right here guys, I can hear you, you know,” she said and managed a smile. Everyone crowded a little closer and most sat back down. “Kate and Adam are right; it’s just a cold and I’ll be fine.” She took in a wheezy breath before continuing, “I just hope I don’t get anyone else sick.”

“I just hope ya don’t get called in for a trial,” David muttered from his seat on a nearby log.

Everyone turned to glare at him.

“What? I had to say it! You all were thinkin’ it, too!”

“I-I should be good, I think,” Claudette wheezed out. “I just had one t-the other day.” There was no concept of time here, really. It was always night with an obnoxiously bright moon. “Er…” She brought a hand up to her head, thinking. “I-I just had one with Kate.”

“That you did,” Kate confirmed with a nod. She hopped over to Claudette’s other side to take a seat. “You should be just fine. Don’t you worry about it and take it easy.”

Claudette nodded before closing her eyes once more.

And then the campfire flickered once before the flames suddenly grew and stretched to the sky with such a bright light that everyone had to close their eyes for a moment.

“A trial? Really?” Meg huffed.

“Speak of the devil,” Nea grumbled from the far side of the fire.

Within the tall flames, four names appeared in a splash of green fire: Nea, Dwight, David, and Claudette. The names stayed etched in the flames for a few moments before disappearing and the fire shrunk, nearly going out, before returning to its normal size amongst the logs. As the fire calmed down, black fog started to gather in the sky above them.

Everyone snapped to attention.

“That’s bullshit!” Meg spat as she sprang up.

“Seriously?” Claudette whined from her place on the ground. She sighed before slowly sitting up. They only had a few minutes before they would be pulled into the trial.

“You can’t go do a trial, you’re in no condition to!” Kate hovered over Claudette as she slowly stood up.

Claudette managed not to sway as she stood and gave little shrug as she replied, “What else am I supposed to do?”

“What are we gonna do?” Nea asked as she and David walked closer.

Claudette turned to cough into her elbow before she simply said, “Leave me. Let me die first, I’ll just slow you guys down.”

“What?”

“No!”

“We are not doing that!” Dwight finally stepped over. “It’s out of the question.”

Claudette opened her mouth to say something else, but started coughing again before she could get anything out.

Nea cast a worried glance at Dwight and David soon mirrored her look.

“Okay, okay,” Dwight said and then paused, thinking. He brought a hand up to his mouth, about to chew his nails, but stopped himself. A bad habit that was and he was working on it. He settled on rapidly tapping his pointer finger against his lips as he glanced between the four of them. “Here’s the plan: I have a Shroud of Binding to offer,” he finally said. “We’re starting the trial together.” The tapping stopped as his gaze stopped on Nea. “I know you’re better at sneaking around, Nea, but I also know you’re really good with flashlights-”

“Say no more,” Nea interrupted. “I have a real good flashlight I’ve been needing to use.”

“Good.” Dwight nodded. “David, you feeling good about giving the killer a good run around, too?”

David grinned. “No flashlights here, but I do have some firecrackers on hand.”

“Perfect,” Dwight said and nodded again. “I should have a toolbox I can take to help speed up the generators…”

“Take my best toolboxes,” Jake suddenly cut in, appearing behind them with two toolboxes.

“What? Jake, are you sure?” Jake nodded before handing one to Dwight. “Given our situation, I just want you all to get out of there as fast as possible.”

“Thanks.”

Jake offered the other to Claudette.

She hesitated. “Are you sure, Jake? I mean, the toolbox will help, but what if-”

“Yes,” Jake interrupted and then suddenly balked. “Unless you’d rather take a med kit.”

Claudette shook her head after a second. “No, getting gens done faster would probably be better. Thank you.”

Jake nodded.

“Okay,” Dwight said, grabbing everyone’s attention again. He went over the plan once more, “We’ll start off together and then split off into pairs. I know that doesn’t always work out, but in this situation, I think it’s our best bet for keeping the killer away from Claudette. Nea and David find the killer as soon as they can and keep them off Claudette. Me and her will focus on gens, but I can distract too if needed. I just want to make sure someone can always be around Claudette and that the killer is not. Sound good?”

The others nodded.

The fire suddenly grew and flared again. The trial was going to start in less than a minute. There was a small clearing about fifteen feet away from the campfire. The four threw their offerings into the fire before stepping over to it. From the dark sky above, a wave of black fog came descending down, here to collect the chosen ones for the trial. It washed over them before returning to the sky, leaving nothing behind.

The other survivors just watched, used to the scene. Adam sat back down in front of the fire. Meg walked back over to Jake to grumble and complain to him. Kate watched the sky with a frown until the eerie fog disappeared. She sighed, turning back to the fire and muttered a barely audible, “Good luck.” before taking a seat with the others.

Claudette, David, Dwight, and Nea soon found themselves at Crotus Prenn Asylum. As the fog receded and their vision returned, they looked around to see a nearby jungle gym and the Disturbed Ward in the distance.

“Had to be this place,” Nea grumbled quietly.

They heard the telltale shriek of the Nurse in the distance.

“Had to be _her_ ,” Nea cursed and started towards the crumbling building ahead.

David started to follow her, but stopped to look back at Claudette and Dwight. “We’ll loop her for a bit at the ward, yeah?”

Dwight nodded. “We’ll start the gens outside, then. Stay safe and come find me when you wanna tap out.”

David nodded back before heading off.

“Dwight,” Claudette spoke up next to him and pointed to their left. “I see a gen over there.”

“Let’s go then,” he replied and lead the way.

They quietly made their way over to the generator and got to work. As soon as they were almost halfway through finishing it, they could hear the Nurse begin to screech over and over. She was chasing someone. The two continued their generator and when it was about ninety percent finished, Claudette sneezed, causing her fingers to slip and the generator to sputter loudly. With the Nurse still screaming in the distance, they carried on and lit it up a few moments later.

“Sorry,” Claudette muttered as they walked away.

“Hey, it’s fine. You only slipped once and the gen’s done,” Dwight whispered back. He paused to look around. It had gone quiet. He started again and advised, “Keep your eyes peeled, I don’t hear her anymore.”

Claudette nodded.

Then, barely a minute later, they heard two different screams in the distance.

Dwight and Claudette both turned around. “Nea’s hurt,” Claudette whispered after a pause.

“She’ll be fine. They’ve been doing great so far.”

More screams and shrieks.

“David, too,” she added.

Dwight sighed and turned back around. He spotted the killer shack ahead. “Let’s check the shack for a generator.”

Claudette nodded again and followed. There was indeed a generator in there. They barely started it when they heard a few shrieks at what they thought was in the distance, but after the last one, a dreaded heartbeat started to pound in their ears. “Dwight,” Claudette whispered as she stood up.

“Locker, now,” Dwight instructed and immediately moved to guide her into it. “I’ll lead her away. If I get hooked, find one of the others, okay?”

“Alright,” Claudette replied as she hopped inside the locker and shut it behind her.

Dwight ran out of the shack after Claudette was tucked away. He was confident the Nurse would follow. For some reason or another, whenever any of the survivors ran, the killers were always able to track them. How, they did not really know, but right now, it would work in their favor. So as long as the killer stayed on him and not Claudette.

The Nurse entered the shack barely a moment after Dwight had run off. She floated over to the generator to damage it before going out the same door Dwight had.

Claudette held her breath as the Nurse passed her locker. It was harder to keep her breathing quiet with a stuffy nose, but she managed. The heartbeat would linger for a little while, until the killer left, so she waited.

Then, abruptly, the Nurse blinked back into the shack with a screech. As she wheezed, she turned to face the locker Claudette was hiding in.

Claudette hoarsely screamed as the locker was opened.

As she was yanked out and tossed over a shoulder, Claudette could hear Dwight yell, “Claudette!” as he came running back.

The Nurse turned around, but did not see Dwight charge back into the shack as she moved. Instead, it was David. “Have a taste of this, bitch!” he shouted as he ran right up to her, dropped a firecracker, and then ran right past her.

The firecracker on the ground burst after a second and a flurry of sparks blinded the Nurse as both she and Claudette screamed in surprise.

Claudette was dropped, but the firecracker had disoriented her, too. Head spinning and eyes straining, she struggled to stand.

“Dwight!” She could hear David scream.

Dwight came in the opposite door, moving faster than he ever had. He pulled Claudette up, dragging her out of the shack. He did not need to worry much, though, as the Nurse had gone after David, enraged. He led Claudette over to a nearby jungle gym. “Claudette, are you okay?” Dwight asked after they were behind some cover.

“I’m fine, just dizzy.” Claudette answered, but still let Dwight check her over anyway. She coughed a few times, winded from the short run, before she insisted, “She just grabbed me, it was nothing, really.”

Dwight frowned, but nodded. “Let’s get-” he cut himself off when Nea slowly vaulted a nearby windowsill. “Nea!” He caught sight of the blood trailing down her arm and pulled a small gauze roll out of his pocket. They each always kept a few rolls of gauze or bandages in their pockets during trials. Just enough to patch up, really, and whatever they could stuff into their pockets was nothing compared to a med kit.

Nea shook her head as Dwight turned to her. “No time, she’s got David.”

Dwight looked confused. “What? When-” he was cut off again, this time as David’s scream echoed across the entire area. He was on a hook.

“He really pissed her off,” Nea said with a smirk. “I’ll go get him.”

“No, I will,” Dwight said firmly. “You’re hurt and it’s my turn to run her around for a bit.”

“What? No!” Nea held up her flashlight with her uninjured arm. “I’ve only used half my flashlight!”

Dwight ignored her, looked at Claudette, and directed her, “Go to the ward. Heal up and do the gen on the top floor. I’m getting David.”

Claudette nodded and started that way. When Nea did not immediately follow, she stopped to turn around and look at the other girl expectantly.

Nea was still giving Dwight an unimpressed look.

“Nea,” Dwight urged. “Go, please.”

Nea’s glare never wavered and she finally huffed, “Fine, but we’re switching again after this gen.”

With that, the small group split up. Claudette and Nea headed for the ward, where they patched Nea up as best they could and started on the generator. As they started it, they could hear the Nurse screeching and blinking around. David was still on the hook, but they kept working.

After as few moments, Claudette, turning at the sound of another Nurse scream, spoke up, “Dwight’s hurt.”

“I knew it!” Nea snapped as she jumped away from the generator. “Stay in the ward. I need to help them.” She started to leave, but stopped in the doorway to turn back to look at Claudette, hesitating. “Will you be okay? I-I don’t want to leave you alone, but…”

Claudette motioned for her to go. “There are pallets and lockers. I can handle myself for a little while.”

Nea nodded. “I’ll send someone back here after I get David off the hook!” she assured and took off.

Claudette continued to work on the generator. Sure enough, David came limping in after a little while. They searched a nearby chest and were lucky enough to find a med kit to quickly help patch David up. He could not stay around for long, though, as Dwight got hooked and Nea went down soon after that. After David left, Claudette tried to stay in the ward, but with a generator almost finished the Nurse came up to patrol and damage it. She debated with herself for a little while. It was very risky, going out alone sick as she was, but every time she tried to go back upstairs, the Nurse would come back.

_‘I need to rotate,’_ Claudette thought to herself as she finally decided to leave the ward. _‘She’s knows someone’s here and checking this gen too much now. I’ll go back to the shack and hopefully see someone on the way there.’_

Claudette took her time, slowly making her back to the killer shack. She ran into neither the Nurse or her friends. As she set to work on the generator, everything began to domino. David went up on the hook again and was sacrificed. He had spent too long on the hook his first time around. Nea went up on the hook a second time and Dwight managed to save her fairly quickly, but then the Nurse downed him and did not hook him. She was chasing Nea. Claudette stayed on her generator. Luckily, Nea avoided the Nurse just enough and was able to help Dwight up again.

Only minutes later, though, as Claudette’s generator was nearly finished, Nea was downed, hooked, and sacrificed.

Claudette grimaced and popped the generator.

Right after the generator lit up, Dwight screamed.

Claudette froze. It was close, perhaps in that nearby jungle gym... She crept around the side of the shack in time to see Dwight hooked. Claudette ducked back behind the shack and waited a few moments. She saw the Nurse eventually float away and, with a screech, blinked back in direction of the ward. Claudette waited a few extra seconds before scampering over to the jungle gym to save Dwight. It was his second time of the hook and the claws of the Entity had descended down, attempting to finish the sacrificial process. Dwight held the largest one away from his chest, grunting and straining, but still managed to turn his head as Claudette approached.

“Claudette,” he wheezed. “Hide. Find the hatch.”

Claudette only had a second before she realized what he was doing. She jumped forward, reaching for him with a cry, “Dwight, no!”

Dwight let go and the claws sunk into him. He screamed and died right in front of her.

Claudette stifled a second cry, clapping her hands over her mouth. God, she hated watching that. She sucked in breath after breath, doing her best not to start sobbing or coughing. She had seen her friends die in front of her so many times and she would never get used to it.

_Hatch._

Claudette slowly turned away from the hook and walked away. She needed to find the hatch. She went a little further into the jungle gym, but found nothing. She could go back to the shack, too, as it appeared there sometimes. No harm in checking. Claudette started to leave the jungle gym, but after hearing a few blinks, a scream, and finally the heartbeat in her ears, she stopped. There was a locker right in front of her and it took her only a moment to get inside. The heartbeat grew and grew. Then Claudette could hear the Nurse’s ragged breathing. She floated by and then once more after a few moments. Claudette held her breath. And then, she felt a tickle in the back of her throat. Her eyes watered as she tried to hold it in, but after a few seconds she gasped once before she started coughing and coughing.

Convulsing with coughs, Claudette stumbled out of the locker. She leaned against it, bent over with her head in her elbow. It took a good minute before the coughing finally subsided and she was able to take in a couple of breaths. Then, Claudette looked to her right. The Nurse was there, about six feet away, staring at her.

Claudette moaned in despair and slid down the side of the locker until she was seated on the ground. “Just kill me,” she wailed and dropped her head into her hands. “My throat hurts, my head hurts, I can hardly run, and I just want to go back to the campfire and sleep.”

The Nurse just continued to stare. Eventually, after a few moments, the Nurse slowly approached. Then, she leaned down and placed a cold hand on Claudette’s forehead.

Claudette still shrieked, threw herself back, and tried to crawl backwards and away. She may have given up, but being killed was not something she still wanted to happen by any means.

The Nurse followed, keeping her persistent hand on Claudette’s forehead. She then slid it down to Claudette’s cheek.

Turning her head away and still not looking, Claudette began to panic. She had seen the Nurse do this to people she killed by her own hands. Had the killer burned a mori? She frantically tired to remember what offerings had been brought, but her mind was going blank.

“You are warm,” the Nurse suddenly spoke softly. “Too warm.”

Claudette whipped her head around so fast she felt a small rush of dizziness. She gaped, astonished. Killers rarely spoke, if at all. So few did it seemed almost like a rule that the killers were not supposed to. Claudette had never heard the Nurse speak. None of the survivors had to her knowledge. Scream and rasp, sure, but speak a whole sentence to one of them?

“Sick,” the Nurse clarified when Claudette did not respond. She watched Claudette’s chest rise and fall, listened to her wheeze for a few seconds before she removed her hand. “I was not aware that could happen here.” She tilted her head, still staring at Claudette.

If not for the cloth bag over her head, Claudette would be able to see her perplexed look. She suddenly straightened up, causing Claudette to flinch away again, but the Nurse ignored her.

Instead, the Nurse looked up at the dark sky above them. She stared at it for a good minute, tilting her head this way and that. She floated around in a small circle, looking all around them, as if checking for something. She even peaked behind a nearby wall before leaning back down to Claudette to pick her up.

Claudette shrieked again.

“Shh, quiet now,” the Nurse hushed. She did not toss Claudette over her shoulder like she did before. Instead, the Nurse scooped her up with one hand behind her knees and the other cradling her back, like that of a bride. She started to move.

The shushing and the new carrying method did little to soothe Claudette, who figured she was still just going to the nearest hook. She started struggling.

“Stop with the squirming,” the Nurse said simply, seemingly not bothered by it and not even slowing down. “Tell me, dear, where is this trap door of yours?”

Claudette froze. “The hatch?”

The Nurse nodded.

Claudette gaped again, but remained wary. “Why?”

“Don’t act stupid, it’s unbecoming. I’ve passed two hooks already and you honestly think I’m still going to kill you?”

Claudette was quiet for a few seconds, just gawking at the Nurse in confusion. That is what the killers usually did. Maim them. Sacrifice them. Kill them. Rinse and repeat. “I don’t know,” Claudette finally replied. “I just…” she trailed off, realizing they passed a third hook. This was not what she was expecting when she gave up. Confused by the sudden show of mercy, Claudette just repeated, “Why?”

The Nurse let out a ragged sigh and asked again, “Do you know?”

She was avoiding Claudette’s question and was referring to the hatch. Claudette shook her head. “It appears in random places. I didn’t have much time to look for it before you found me.”

The Nurse nodded again. “Of course.”

The Nurse carried Claudette across the realm, searching for the hatch. They dipped into the ward to look a little before leaving and going to the killer shack. Finding the shack to be empty, the two headed towards the ward again. Claudette was stiff, to say the least. The trembling stopped after a few minutes, but it was hard to fully relax when you were in the arms of someone who had killed you perhaps thousands of times. The Nurse was also strangely cold, that or Claudette’s fever was getting worse. It felt oddly nice, considering her sickness, but despite not _wanting_ to relax, her body was still _trying_ to.

Knowing she was not going to be harmed and with Claudette’s adrenaline running low, fatigue was taking over. She was fighting to keep her head up. Her head briefly touched the Nurse’s shoulder, but Claudette snapped it back up immediately. In the same moment, she heard the hatch. “There,” she mumbled and pointed in the direction she heard it.

The Nurse changed direction, soon finding the hatch open and waiting in the middle of a random patch of grass. “There we are,” the Nurse said as she approached it. She gently set Claudette down right in front of it. “Off you go, then.”

Claudette turned to stare at her again. The Nurse really was just letting her go. Simple as that. Despite this killer being, well, _a killer_ , Claudette felt the need to let her know that this act of mercy was appreciated. “Th-”

“Don’t,” the Nurse interrupted. “No one in this messed up place deserves any kind of thanks, especially me.” She reached out and put her hand on Claudette’s cheek again. She then moved it and tucked some hair behind Claudette’s ear.

Claudette stiffened, but somehow managed not to flinch away.

“I’ve killed you before and I’ll kill you again.” The Nurse pulled away with a sigh. “Go back to your campfire, dear. Drink plenty of fluids and get some rest.”

Claudette eventually just nodded in response. She climbed down into hatch and watched as the Nurse shut it softly behind her. Hatch closed and surrounded by darkness, Claudette started back to her campfire and her friends.

Behind her and through the hatch door, she heard a muffled blink and a scream. Against better judgment, Claudette smiled a little at the sound as she went on her way.

**Author's Note:**

> i started writing this silly lil thing a few months back and found the will to finish it. just my lil two cents fic/intro to the fandom, i guess. maybe i'll write some more for dbd in the future. it's a swell game. Claudette is one of my fav survivors.


End file.
